


Rainy Days and Mondays

by IntheMoment



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:23:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1285972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IntheMoment/pseuds/IntheMoment
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The last twenty-four hours are making me seriously reconsider our friendship," Digg said through gritted teeth as he wrestled Oliver’s unconscious body out of the back seat of the Queen Consolidated car and onto his shoulder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainy Days and Mondays

**Author's Note:**

> First fic I've written in ages, first Arrow fic. Not something that happened on the show, just something that takes place in my Arrow world. Written for a challenge on Tumblr where the participants were given 5 lines of dialogue to use in a story. Only that dialogue could be used. It definitely was a challenge but a fun one.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> +++||+++

What started out as a routine appearance at Moira Queen’s mayoral rally, turned into a drunken bender for Oliver and a real life Where’s Waldo exercise for Digg and Felicity. John could tell something was up with Oliver as he spoke on behalf of his mother; his usual warmth and charm were absent and his eyes, troubled and vacant, didn’t connect with anyone. After addressing the gathering Oliver melted into the sea of people and simply disappeared. He certainly hadn’t lost his touch when it came to that.

It wasn’t surprising when, on their way to the foundry to track Oliver down, Felicity revealed the fact that the Queen family had yet another deep dark secret. Although she wouldn’t go into details, it wasn’t hard to see that this was the catalyst for Oliver’s latest vanishing act. Still, the guy had managed to survive 5 years on a hellish remote island filled with evil madmen and he lost his shit after finding out his mother hadn’t told him the truth about something? Somehow it didn’t quite add up. But then if Digg had learned one thing in the time he’d spent getting to know Oliver Queen, it was that things were rarely what they seemed on the expensively garbed surface.

A dive bar down in the Glades was where he finally ran Oliver to ground. After scanning the murky room for potential threats and being satisfied that all was as seedy, yet as harmless as it seemed, Diggle sat down on the bar stool next to Oliver. 

Wise words seemed like a given at the moment, but they seemed to be in short supply and something told him Oliver was in a less than a receptive mood anyway. Could have been the trademark Queen death glare complete with jutting jaw that clued him in. Still it wasn’t in John’s nature to turn tail and run from a challenge, so he offered up the only thing that came to mind.

"We create ourselves."

A derisive snort greeted the lame, albeit sincere, attempt at wisdom. When it became evident that silence was going to be his only companion, Diggle suggested quietly that it was time to go. Oliver went through the requisite ‘you and what army are going to make me’ bluster which only caused John to dig in his heels while calmly explaining just how he’d approach the task at hand.

"Whatever, whatever…" Oliver snapped as he pushed John’s hand away from his arm with a flick of an elbow, "…it’s not happening."

So they were going to have to do this the hard way. Because they’d trained together often enough John knew his odds of subduing Oliver quickly on any given day were slim to none. On his side today was the fact that the younger man was three fourths of the way through a bottle of whisky, and the fact that John was just tired enough to be ruthless in the pressure he was applying to the nerves in Oliver’s neck, pressure that was going to cause Oliver to pass out in just about 3-2-1…now.

The easiest thing to do would have been to haul his ass to the foundry, but then John knew he’d be the one that would end up sitting around to wait for Oliver to sober up and that was absolutely not going to happen. It was a quick decision to head in the direction of Felicity’s apartment. He’d drop Oliver off, leave him in Felicity’s more than capable hands, and then nothing was going to come between him and his own bed.

"The last twenty-four hours are making me seriously reconsider our friendship," Digg said through gritted teeth as he wrestled Oliver’s unconscious body out of the back seat of the Queen Consolidated car and onto his shoulder. Christ, the guy was as heavy as a sack of rocks, all muscle and dead weight. 

He knocked on the door and Felicity opened it with a wave of the remote as she trilled, “I can’t fall in love today I didn’t do a thing with my hair—come back tomorrow.”

In reply to his quizzical look she just shrugged, gesturing at the television. One of those old black and white movies flickered across the screen. Made sense now. Late night talks as they waited for Oliver’s return from fighting the bad guys, had revealed Felicity’s love of classic Hollywood movies. Maybe love was too weak a word; obsession described it more accurately. The girl could recite from memory just about every word of dialogue in her favorite films. Of course he should have known better than to question her; before he knew it he was invited to her place for a movie marathon. Not something you turned down if you wanted to stay on Felicity’s good side. They’d all seen what happened to anyone who ended up on her bad side. All in all movie night wasn’t too painful; he’d actually had a good time watching her prove she was right.

Taking care not to thump Oliver’s head against the door jam, John sidled through the doorway and carried him over to set him down as gently as he could in the oversized club chair tucked into the corner. Three tours in Afghanistan had taught Digg how to sleep anywhere, so he didn’t think Oliver would experience any ill effects at having to sleep in a cushy chair for a few hours.

With a sigh, John rolled his shoulders and listened to his neck do the snap, crackle and pop. Satisfied that Oliver was fine, Digg made his way over to the couch that he knew from experience was comfortable to sleep on. Somehow the prospect of going home to an empty house wasn’t looking as good as it had a few hours ago.

At Felicity’s puzzled look he gestured outside, “It’s raining again.”

Automatically she looked out the window and with a small smile headed into the kitchen. As she clinked and clanked in the other room, John told her what had happened at the bar. When she returned she handed him a bottle of beer and sat down on the couch next to him. Offering him the bowl of popcorn, she began to explain what he’d missed in the movie.

John took a long pull from the icy cold beer and settled back into the couch satisfied that for the moment all was well in Starling City.

###


End file.
